Transfer apparatus for galvanizing-pots.



J. A. HAN'LON.

TRANSFER APPARATUS FOR GALVANIZING POTS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 3, 191s.

Patented Apr. 20, 1915.

III II I I Il! IIII IIII I IHIIIHII II III! III l IIIIIIIIII'II IIIHIIIIII "I'I'If IIIIII rllllllll/llllllrll l l THE` NURRIS PETERS C0.,PHON-LITHU., WASHINGTON. DA C.

JOHN A. HANLON, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR '10HANLON-GILEGOBY GALVANIZING COMPANY, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ACURPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 2d, 1915.

Application filed February 3, 1913. Serial No. 745,912.

T0 all 'whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN A. IIANLON, aresident of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in TransferApparatus for GalvaniZing-Pots, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to apparatus for coating angles, channels, flator round bars or rods, pipe, etc., with metal, and particularly forcoating articles which are longer than the coating pot or kettle andwhich must be transferred from end to end of the coating pot or kettle.

The object of the invention is to provide simple and inexpensiveapparatus for transferring the bar or other article being coated fromend to end of the pot or kettle and by means of which the output of agiven coating pot or kettle is increased.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of a kettle or pothaving my improvement applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal verticalsection through the same on the line .Q -2, Fig. 1; Fig. is a plan viewof the carriage and the lower end of the transfer device; Fig. 4 is avertical longitudinal section on the line 4-/1, Fig. 3; and

. Fig. 5 is an elevation showing one of the Scrapers or wipers.

In coating steel or iron bars, rods, angles, pipe, flats or othersections with metal, such as Zinc or lead or compositions thereof, it iscustomary to dip or immerse the rods or bars into a molten bath of themetal contained in a long pot or kettle. 'Ihese pots or kettles are ofvarious sizes but on account of their cost and particularly the cost ofthe bath, it is not usual to have them more than fourf teen feet longand three feet wide, such a pot or kettle costing approximately onethousand dollars and the bath therein approximately four thousanddollars. When it becomes necessary to coat bars, rods, pipes or otherarticles of greater length than the pot or kettle, instead of going tothe expense of building a pot or kettle long enough to take the entirelength of such articles, it is the practice to insert one end of thearticle into the pot or kettle, leave the same rest therein in inclinedposition the proper length of time, then withdraw the same end wise,preferably through a wiper to remove the surplus metal, carry sucharticle endwise to the other end of the tank and insert the uncoated-endtherein in the same manner as the first end, and then again withdrawsaid article or bar through a wiper. This dipping of the two ends of thearticle successively and carrying the article from one end to the otherof the tank or pot, requires considerable time and necessitates manuallabor which is hard in case of heavy articles and which is disagreeableon account of the heat and fumes from the pot or kettle, to such anextent that it is diflicult to obtain men to do this work and retainthem long enough to become skilled.

The object of the present invention is to reduce the cost, and theamount and arduousness of the labor necessary to coat bars, rods orother articles of greater length than the pot or kettle.

In the drawings the pot or kettle is indicated at 1, and is mounted in asuitable setting or foundation 2 and is filled to the required depthwith the molten coating metal. At one end of the pot or kettle is aplatform 3 for the workman who introduces the bars or rods into the pot.At each end of the pot )r kettle in proper position for the rod or barto be drawn therethrough, are scraping or wiping devices for removingthe superfluous coating metal and dross. These may be of variouscharacteristics and, as shown, each comprises a base 4 resting upon theside walls of the kettle or setting and carrying a fixed wiper blade orplate 5 and a pivoted wiper blade or plate 6, the latter being providedwith a handle 7 for opening the wiper blades. The meeting edges of theblades are shaped, as at 8, to correspond with the cross section of therod or bar being coated.

At one side of the pot or kettle and preferably supported on the sidewall of the setting 2 is a suitable track 9 for the transfer carriage,said track comprising rails 9a supported by legs 10 and 11, or they may,if desired, be suspended from overhead. On this track is a transfer caror carriage 12 provided with wheels 13 running on the track, and beingso formed as to support the end of a freshly coated bar or rod and bepushed up the inclined track to the other end of the tank. The bottom ofthe carriage is provided with drainage openings 17 and with transverseangle members 16 upon which the end of the coated bar rests and whichpresent only a small surface to prevent as far as possible the marringof the fresh coat. In order to prevent the end of the bar or rod whenbeing pushed upon, from slipping oif the car, the latter is providedwith comparatively shallow side walls 12a and a high end wall 12b havinglongitudinal side flanges 12C.

At the lower end of the track is a suitable buffer mechanism comprisinga spring 14 secured to a cross bar 14a held by the upturned ends 9b ofthe rails 9a. A cover plate 15 projects over the buffer 14 and partlyover the carriage 12 when the latter is at the lower end of the transfertrack, and serves to prevent the car from jumping 0E the track. Thetrack, as shown, is somewhat longer than the pot or kettle and at itsupper end is upturncd as at 9C, to prevent the car from running olf atthat end.

The apparatus is used in the following manner: The bars or rods to becoated are handled 1in batches of say fifteen, only two bars A and Bbeing shown in the drawings, one inserted from each end of the pot orkettle, and which rest in the pot or kettle in oppositely inclinedpositions. When a bar A is sufliciently coated a workman standing on theplatform 3 seizes the upper end of the same and places it in positionbetween the scraping blades 5 and 6 which are then pressed together bythe lever. He then walks backwardly on the platform 3 and draws the baror rod through the scraping device to remove the superfluous metal anddross which falls back into the pot orkettle. When entirely drawnthrough the scraping device, another workman standing on the floor onthe track side of the pot or kettle grasps the forward end of the bar orrod by a suitable tool or by hand and places it in the carriage 12 whichisat the lower end of the transfer track. The rst workman then walksforwardly, pushing the car ahead of him and upwardly along the inclinedtrack until it reaches the upper end thereof. The floor workman thentakes the rear end of the bar or rod and lowers it down into the pot ortank, to the position indicated at B, Fig. 1, a Ithird workmansimultaneously removing the forward or upper end of the bar or rod fromthe carriage. This permits the carriage to at once run back by gravityto its initial position. The'irst workman then grasps a second bar orrod and proceeds as before, the third workman at the same time taking apreviouslydipped bar or rod Band withdrawing rit through the twoscraping or wiping devices 4 in the same manner as the first workmanwithdraws the bar A. Any arrangement of track and carriage whereby thecarriage automatically returns to the .entering end of the track, iswithin the scope of the inventions The apparatus described enables barsor rods which are considerably longer than an available melting pot ortank to be coated expeditiously and withv a minimum amount of labor, andreduces the arduousness of the labor to such an extent that the outputis very considerably increased.

What I claim is 1. Apparatus for coating strips or bars, comprising apot in which the strips or bars to' be coated are laid, said pot beingshorter than said strips or bars, a track extending from a point nearone end 'of said potto a point beyond the other end thereof, and acarriage on said track adapted to support and carry one end of akstripor bar while the same is moved from one end of the pot to the other forcoating its other end.

2. Apparatus for coating strips or bars, comprising a pot shorter thanthe strips or barsto be coated, a track longer than said pot andextending lengthwise thereof, a wiping or scraping device at one end ofsaid pot, a carriage normallyy lying onsaid track at said end of the potand adapted to support and carry one end of the strip or bar and to bemoved along said track to transfer a strip or bar to the other "end of'said pot, said track being so constructed and arranged that the.carriage automatically returns to normal position when the strip or baris removed therefrom.

3. Apparatus for coating strips or bars, comprising a pot shorter thanthe strips or bars to be coated, an inclined track 'extending lengthwiseof said pot with its lower endv near one end of said pot and its upperend at a point beyond the other end thereof, and a carriage normallylying at the lower end of said track and adapted to support `and carryone end of a strip 'or bary and to be moved upwardly along said ttrackto transfer a strip or bar to the other end of said pot.

4. Apparatus for coating strips or bars,

comprising a pot shorter than the strips or bars to be coated, aninclined track extending lengthwise of said pot with its lower end nearone end of said pot and its upper vend at a point beyond the other endthereof,

and a carriage normally supported atl the lower end of saidtrack andadaptedto support and carry one end of a strip orbar 'and to be movedlupwardly along said track to transfer a strip or bar from one end tothe other of said pot, said carriage having a perforated bottomfordraining off the excess material. Y

\5.l Apparatus for coating strips or bars, comprising a pot shorterthanV the strips or bars to be coated, .an Yinclined track extendinglengthwise of said pot with its lower end near oneend of said pot anditsV upper end at a point beyond the other end thereof, y a carriagenormally supported at the lower end of said track and adapted to supportand carry one end of a strip or bar and to be moved upwardly along saidtrack to transfer a strip or bar from one end to the other of said pot,and a support in said carriage for the strips or bar.

6. Apparatus for coating strips or bars, comprising a pot shorter thanthe strips or bars to be coated, an inclined track eXtending lengthwiseof said pot with its lower end near one end of said pot and its upperend at a point beyond the other end thereof, a carriage normallysupported at the lower end of said track and adapted to support andcarry one end of a strip or bar and to be moved upwardly along saidtrack to transfer a strip or bar from one end to the other of said pot,and a buffer member at the lower end of the track.

7. Apparatus for coating strips or bars, comprising a pot shorter thanthe strips or bars to be coated, an inclined track extending lengthwiseof and longer than said pot, a carriage normally supported at the lowerend of said track and adapted to support and carry one end of a strip orbar and to be moved upwardly along said track to transfer a strip or barfrom one end to the other thereof, and means located at the lower end ofsaid track for preventing said carriage from leaving the track when itreaches the lower end thereof.

8. Apparatus for use with galvanizing pots for coating strips or bars,comprising a track longer than the pot and located at one side thereofand extending from a point near one end of said pot to a point beyondthe other end thereof, and a carriage on said track adapted to supportand carry one end of a strip or bar while the same is moved from one endof the pot to the other, said carriage being arranged to normally occupya position at one end of said pot.

9. Apparatus for use with galvanizing pots for coating strips or bars,comprising a track longer than said pot and located at one side thereof,said track being inclined with its lower end near one end of said potand its upper end at a point beyond the other end thereof, a carriagefreely movable on said track and adapted to support one end of a stripor bar while the same is moved from one end of the pot to the other, anda buifer at the lower end of said track arranged to coperate with saidcarriage.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN A. HANLON.

Witnesses:

ELBERT L. HYDE, I. C. STAVER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

